Non- Traditional

The past few weeks has been in a state of familial chaos the last few weeks with Kyle working such crazy hours. When spring break is finally here, I see him sleeping for a couple days solid to get his body back into a normal routine! Last night, he got up at 1 to head into work. He's got to go back tonight- but this time, he's got to be getting ready at midnight. He'll be heading to Valleyview, which is a good 4 hours form here. Oh, the life of an oilfield worker! (And their families!)

So, other than Thursday night, I've spent a considerable amount of time in my craft room. My mojo must have found me, because I churned out three entire layouts last night. Can you believe that?! I'm slightly flabbergasted! I wonder what tonight will bring?!

Our Easter plans are slightly on hold for the moment; I do plan on baking a cake today- with the girls' help, of course- but otherwise its going to be a normal, quiet weekend for us here. We are hoping to make next weekend our 'Easter' weekend; my parents will be back home (they are currently on vacation right now) and Kyle should be done work. If he isn't, at least it'll be his regular weekend off. He's going to need a break by then!

While I'm on the topic of Easter, as I was heading to bed last night, I wandered into the kitchen to grab a little shot of juice to whet the whistle, and two of my fridge magnets caught my eye. They struck a chord deep within me, but I couldn't say why exactly it was so profound to me. They are two birds- doves (I think. But, I affectionately call them chicks)- and they're facing each other. One is yellow, the other is white. The word "Easter" jumped out at me when I saw them.

Just one of those 'hmm' moments, I guess.

Kyle is big into drag racing. He has his own race truck, that he enjoys tinkering on and plans on (slowly) improving, as finances and time allows. We haven't raced much since moving back to Alberta, but we did occasionally attend the race track in Estevan when we lived in Saskatchewan. Some of you may know that already. He's joked, time and again, that his girls are going to grow up to be funny car race drivers. Yeah.Right. Not if I can help it! I don't mind if they drag race, and start out racing rails, but they are--WILL NOT--race funny cars. They're too fast and too dangerous. He also jokes that I should take up drag racing. I've got a better reaction time than he does (heh heh). It could possibly be on my bucket list.

The first layout I finished last night is a perfect example, in Kyle's defence, of why the kids should learn to drag race. They love speed, they love playing racing games on their daddy's iPhone, and they love pretending to 'race' around the house in a cardboard box. That's what Addison was doing in my 'Race Car' layout. Kyle would push the box up with his toes and make car sounds, pretending to race the kids around the world.

Up until the very last minute, the title for this layout was going to be 'Pretending'. Then, after I got the journalling done, I realized that the title didn't really explain what this layout is all about. Instead, it would have been confusing, and the whole point would have gotten lost in the shuffle. So, I gently peeled off the alphas, and edited the title to read 'Race Car'.

You're probably wondering where the journalling is. Its there, but its hidden! I'm on a flip book craze lately, and this layout is no exception. The layout I scrap lifted this one from (which means copied, basically) didn't include room for journalling, so I had to be creative and make room for it. I made the flip book to 1) save paper- so I wasn't throwing out any paper that could easily have been used up; and 2) I wanted lots of space to write in, since my writing is so big and fluffy. There. Killed two birds with one stone!

The main color scheme I wanted to follow on this layout was kraft (brown), red and blue. The yellow makes a terrific accent color, and actually steals the show. The blue and brown are so muted, while the red and yellow are so intense and dramatic, I love the contrast between them. They also provide a great contrast between Addisons' personality (which is quiet and laid back), while the bright, vivid colors helps highlight the intensity of race car driving.

Also, one last little note: the blue floral paper in the background was created using a Creative Memories paper tearing tool. Remember how I mentioned in a previous post that my paper trimmer is incredibly dull and tends to tear thin paper? Yeah- that's what happened with this patterned paper. To camouflage the torn edges, I embellished with the paper tearing tool. I love the look here!

One of the best things about having girls is that I can have make overs with them! I'm a girly girl. I like having my hair all pretty, some make up on, and pretty clothes. I like to feel good about myself, and getting dolled up and painting my nails (once in a while) helps me achieve that. The girls really enjoy it, too. So, one day, during play time, we sat down to have a little make over. They were all.over.it like a pig in mud. (And, I can hear the girls saying to me 'but, I don't want to be a pig'). We have yet to understand what that phrase means! Heh heh.

I scrap lifted a layout I had seen on the Jillibean Soup blog for this particular project. It works perfectly to frame and highlight the star of my layout: the picture of Addison. This picture is a personal favorite of mine! I'm in love with it! It isn't the best- her one eye is covered, but that's what makes it so great. My blush brush is perfect to highlight the theme of my layout. MAKE UP!!!! (That, and her sweetly, toddler-done smudged lipstick).

The last layout I created was using the newest sketch to be posted to the LCOM (Lets Capture Our Memories) blog. If you want to play along, you can find the sketch here. I'm pretty sure I'm going to submit this layout to their challenge. When I saw that my friend Melissa had posted it, I knew instantly that it would be perfect for this layout.

I am not a big fan of halloween decorations. I'm more of a harvest type of gal. That's what I'd rather decorate my house with, because I love the warm, inviting, deep colours this time of year boasts. Not that I have anything against halloween decorations, or anyone out there that enjoys decorating for the holiday. I just don't like the dark connotations of it. Does that make sense? Anyways, it just boils down to personal preference. So, when it came to creating this years' halloween layout, it wasn't about using traditional halloween colours; it was all about coordinating with the girls' costumes!

The girls dressed up as fairies for halloween. At first, we were going with butterflies (that's what they'd asked for), but since the weather was incredibly cold that weekend, I ran to the dollar store, found tiara's to wear over their toques, and little wands, and VOILA! they were fairies. Later on (after the pictures in the layout were taken), I put the girls in snow pants. It slowed them down quite a bit, but at least they were warmer!

I had a lot of fun creating the title cluster on the bottom left portion of my layout. I love the mixture of alphas and sticker phrases, journalling spot, buttons and tags. Its very eclectic and personally a lot of fun! IMHO. To help draw the eye around the page, I included the date in the upper right corner of my layout. A goal to always keep in mind when you're creating is to follow an invisible grid in your mind; divide your layout into threes and try to embellish where those lines interect, to create a design 'sweet spot'. Its effective, but a technique I sometimes find hard to do.

What do I love the most about this layout? The non traditional color scheme! The colors I used are everything opposite to halloween and fall, and I think its fantastic!!

Seriously Nuts

What the...??

What a nut!! 

Sketch #28 is up over at Miracle's Momma's Designs- you should check it out! What a fun sketch to play with. 

Since I didn't actually have a layout of the actual air show, that's the subject this layout covers. None of the pictures I took really turned out all that well- except for the vintage planes, the others move just too stinking fast to get a good picture of! Luckily, the F-18 fighter showed us what those planes look like flying half speed- its still ridiculously fast, but slow enough to get a picture of! 

And, the highlight of the show, the Snow Birds, didn't perform for us because a thunder storm blew in as they took off. Luckily I got a picture of one before the show started. 

So, I know the scan didn't come out the greatest here. Its just way too bright, and the papers and colours are severely washed out. I guess it makes for a cool effect, but I think it looks much nicer IRL. 

I didn't leave any space for journalling, but to remedy that, I used the picture with a ton of white space in it. (And, because I can just see people in the future asking what plane that is in the picture, I wrote it up in the top right hand corner of the picture). LOL

To highlight our Canadian roots, I found a stamp that looks fairly similar to a Maple Leaf. For some interest, I stamped it a few times, then used some pop dots to show case the one that's cut from card stock.

Taking these pictures at night still doesn't do my layout any justice, but at least this time you can see that the one banner is actually a water droplet design. I thought that worked quite well, since it was a very wet and soggy day.

The 'adventure ahead' badge is K&Co.

And lastly, just to show the dimension- both pictures and the circle badge are pop dotted as well.

Hope you enjoyed! Seriously, check out Heather's newest sketch, and let me know what you think! If you play along, I'd love to see how her sketch inspired you!

Baby C's

Hello from chilly, wintery central Alberta! My goodness we've been getting a lot of snow over the last week. I can deal with it as long as we don't have any more freezing rain. Its made life pretty interesting when you're attempting to travel from place to place. I highly DON'T recommend it!

When the girls first began learning songs and singing, one of the first I shared with them was the ABC's. They still don't have every single letter down pat, but they have the majority of it. They are also starting to sing along to the theme songs of some of their favourite tv shows- especially miss Maren. I love listening, and I love that she's trying to sing along. It makes my heart happy. They are learning so much and growing so incredibly fast!

Anywho, Addison affectionately sang the 'Baby C's', at the beginning, because that's what it sounded like to her. Now she knows that the song is actually ABC, but I thought it was so stinking cute! I never want to forget some of the sweet things they said and did. I'm so thankful for this hobby of mine.

Why do I say that? I scrapped about it. Naturally!

Reveal day at Lets Capture Our Memories is today, which means I have another layout to share with you.

I'm not sure that Addison was actually singing the ABC's to her Oma in this picture, but she could definitely be doing it- the toy that's in the middle of the bottom part of the picture, is a leap frog fridge magnet that sings the ABC's (including magnetic letters- all 26 of them- from the alphabet). That's what they sing along to now. This picture was taken the morning of our outing to the air show this past summer.

Its incredibly hard to see (I should have stamped it in a darker shade of ink, but I was afraid to try it over again, for fear of it looking bad), but I stamped 'I love you' in SU's Close to Cocoa along the upper right hand side of the picture. The scalloped circles were first stamped using SU's Always Artichoke ink, then cut out with a pair of ridiculously sharp scissors. The journalling spot was also stamped, using SU's Chocolate Chip ink.

The lady bugs and flower are all from the Susan Winget collection of K&Co.

The patterned papers are all fab scraps. Yay!

The sketch? Can be found at the LCTS blog. As always, please let me know if you played along with the sketch challenge this week, and don't forget to post your finished masterpiece to the website, using the link tool there. I'd love to see how this sketch inspires you!

~a

Skip

So, I completely missed a LCTS sketch a few weeks back. My bad!

Here is my take on sketch #152. As per my current 'kick', all the papers used are scraps. The chipboard Joy sentiment is K&Co, and I've had it in my stash for eons. It's pretty Christmas-y, but I like that its versatile enough to use on a layout that's far from Christmas! The netting is from packaging.

The girls always throw a fit when their daddy leaves the house- whether its for a 'yucky smoke' as we call it, or to run out to the garage for something, or to run an errand, mow the lawn...the list is ever-expanding. I will often tell them to go look in the window, because they'll be able to see their daddy if he's doing something outside. In this case, they were able to watch him for a while, as he was mowing the front lawn for us. It made their afternoon!

Great Shots

I got so many good shots of the kids the day we hung out in the garage cleaning up over the summer! Here, Maren is helping her daddy sweep the floor. I love that little tongue hanging out of her mouth!

The latest sketch (#26) is up over at Heathers blog; you should go and check it out! Seriously, the design team is fantabulous! The designs they come up with are incredibly creative, and Heather's sketches are beyond amazing! They are a lot of fun to work with.

As always, if you decide to use Heather's sketch, please let me know. I'd love to see how it inspires you!

And, once again, all the papers here are scraps (and incredibly ancient), except for the green card stock base. The ribbon isn't a scrap either- it came from a bargain basket over at DeSerres. Seriously, I love that store! I could definitely go crazy there...

Another layout will be coming up in the next few days...until then, take care!

~a

Hop Scotch

Hi everyone!

Have I mentioned before the 'sidewalk that leads to nowhere' that was located in our backyard? I say 'was', because its now been torn out. Or, most of it. When we put the shed in the backyard (yes, we bought a shed and had it delivered a couple of weeks ago), Kyle used the sidewalk blocks to level it. Now, we have to re-seed it before the snow flies, so next spring we'll have new grass growing in!

Before the fence was put up, the original owners used the backdoor as their main entrance- which, if you think about it, is a real nuisance, considering you're entering right into the kitchen/dining room. But, that's just me. To other people, its no big deal. There was no grass in the backyard either, so they parked back there- hence the sidewalk.

After it was further developed and closed in, the sidewalk just plain didn't make sense. Why leave the sidewalk when it leads smack dab into the middle of your backyard fence? Silly, if you ask me, but it lead to tons of hours of fun for the girls. They loved taking their sidewalk chalk out into the backyard and play with it. The first thing they always asked for was hop scotch (after I showed them what it was all about one afternoon). Having that sidewalk was a bonus for me, too- I didn't have to worry about my little toddlers playing out in the driveway or along our street, where it is quiet, but local traffic is a constant worry for me.

At first, I didn't really want to cover up as much of this picture as I did, but in the end, I wound up really liking it. I wanted to mimic the numbers in the hop scotch in the picture, so I used my Cricut to cut out the numbers. (I searched high and low for sticker numbers that weren't minuscule or monstrously huge, and apparently I have none! Cricut to the rescue!!) I thought the floral background worked well to highlight the outdoors- even though there were scant flowers growing in my backyard. One day I will remedy that!! (At a time in the kids' life where it isn't fun picking all the heads off the flowers anymore, or playing in the dirt...)

For the title work, I traced out wood veneer letters that I found at Walmart (because the package contains only one of every letter in the alphabet) onto foam and cut them out. To cover up the pencil lines, I used a sponge dauber and inked the outer edges of the letters with SU's Cherry Cobbler ink.

All the papers used on this layout (minus the kraft base) are from my scrap stash- including the papers I used to cut the numbers with.

In a lot of ways, the season change is welcome, but in some ways, I'm sad to see summer leave us already. The kids sure have enjoyed the changes the weather has brought- they loved playing in the snow, and just the other day Maren asked when it was going to snow again. I cringed a little at the thought of cold weather and the white, fluffy stuff, but told her it was coming soon enough. Halloween has me excited enough as it is; don't get me started on Christmas! I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year. Its going to be so much more meaningful for the kids! Eeek! I can hardly wait to put up the tree and decorate!

What are you looking forward to at this time of year?

~a

Fascinate{d}

I love this shot of Addison. It was kind of a fluke, really, but a happy fluke. I get all giddy inside when stuff like this happens!

We were out in the garage helping Kyle clean up and sort through the loads of junk and garbage we've got kicking around, and after a while, the kids discovered daddy had some of his old toys kicking around the garage. They also discovered there were some neato things in there- such as sand paper- which is what Addison is holding in this photo.

Everything on this layout is from scraps- in one way or another. The orange and gold flower sticker is actually a 12 inch border strip (K&Co) that I cut into four strips (all varying lengths), to get more mileage from. The white netting is packaging from toys that I bought from Walmart for the kids' prizes (for their weekly chore charts). You'll see it popping up on a few different projects in the near future!

The flower I am especially fond of. It came from a cheapo flower arrangement that my MIL bought the kids for their bedroom when they were first born. Truthfully, I was never keen on them (there were three), but now they seem to have grown on me a little. Now that the kids (aka Addison) tore them all to  shreds (except for one). I kept some of the flowers from one of them, and plan to incorporate them into my layouts. Here, you can see one of them- I used a black rhinestone for the centre of the flower.

For the title work, I threw together some sticker letters (I don't know where they came from- my sister gave them to me!), but the green banner is MS. The phrase sticker in the top right corner is K&Co.

All this was done for sketch #153 over at Lets Capture These Sketches. If you get the chance, head over there, and see what the design team has come up with. If you choose to use the sketch, let me know- I'd love to see how it inspires you!

~a

Coffee with your BFF

I have to apologize for the long absences between my posts as of late. In the grand scale of things, and the way things should be prioritized, this has fallen way down the list- but its constantly on my mind. I enjoy blogging, and I hope that in the future it will pick up again (to the once daily, if not nearly daily) status. For now, working on strengthening my relationship with Kyle is priority; and improving my relationship with my kids is a close second.

We have been attending marriage counselling for a couple of weeks, and its helped us overcome our pride and (on my part) fear of letting him get close to me. We still have a long ways to go, and I have a significant amount of 'baggage' that still needs to be dealt with, but we both feel confident we are 'coming along'. Certain concepts are totally new to me (such as an apparent fear of abandonment), and others are finally being seriously looked at and treated (such as post partum depression/depression). That, in itself, is an incredibly long story. In short, we're keeping an eye on my hormones (especially cortisol, testosterone, etc. because in the recent past, my testosterone levels have been low. It may account for my depression, anxiety and everything I've been feeling and experiencing towards/with the kids). To help things out, I'm on an anti depressant. Phew!

I am happy to report, in addition to working things out (satisfactorily, so far) with Kyle, I also feel like I've made a better connection with Maren. I am trying some different disciplinary methods, and they seem to be working. There's less stress in the house, less anger, and more happiness, and the change is welcome and positive. Things can only keep getting better from here!!

I just wanted to give y'all a little update and let you know how things are going, and where I'm at in my (our) life right now. I miss you and will check in as often as time allows!

In other news, I have a new layout to share!

This layout was completed for Miracles' Momma's Design Diva's. I followed Heather's sketch fairly closely this time. I wanted to pick up the colours the girls' cups are in the photo, so I used a lot of pink and blue. I thought coral worked so well with the pink striped paper, I had to throw that in, as well, and the green was such a nice complimentary colour. That explains my paper choices!

I began thinking of how I could incorporate the girls' new favourite thing into this layout- having 'coffee'. We call it coffee, but really its whatever they're drinking. When I'm pouring it, I pretend like its coffee. Then, they get a spoon to stir it with, and sometimes a snack- because when you're sitting and visiting with your BFF over a cup of joe, you need to have a snack! To tie that idea into this layout, I used the tea pot and tea cup stickers.

And, there you have it. When the kids go to bed, they get 'fresh ice', as we call it- just plain old ice water. Sometimes at supper time or throughout the day they'll drink it, but not often. And, when they do, it NEEDS ice in it. They're like their mommy- won't touch water unless its frozen.

I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful, cooler days! I'm so glad fall has rolled around- I love this time of year! Its got me to thinking that I need to hang my fall-y wreath on the front door. Do you decorate for fall? Any season, or all the seasons?

~a

Small Gestures

Did you hear? I'm having a giveaway! For more details, scroll down, or click on this link to head straight over there, and click here to see what's included in the RAK!

One of the things that I've wanted to cross off my scrappy bucket list is painting/chalking/inking (and for those of you that have mists- misting) using a template of some kind. Since I have none of those things in my arsenal as of yet, I used what I had on hand. While it may not look as nice as spray inks and proper templates do, I still really like the effect this created.

I used what I had on hand- being Stampin' Up ink, and a paper (dollar store) doily. Then, I took a sponge dauber and inked away! Once that was done, I layered on the elements and called it done.

Before that, though, I altered a few other items. The bird within the frame is a K& Co chipboard frame, and it was fairly blah being an off-white with barely there script scrolling across it. If you were going for a monochromatic colour scheme, it would be beautiful. I wanted more colour, so I used Summer Sun ink (SU) to fill in the scalloped edge, then Cameo Coral for the flowers, and lastly Old Olive for the leaves. For the bird, I used Martha Stewart glitter in Peridot. (I used Always Artichoke ink for blending in the shape of the doily).

The butterflies are vellum, and they're also K&Co. We all know what vellum looks like, and they seemed to be a little lost on the layout- blending in with the white background. Once again, perfect if you're going for a monochromatic colour scheme. With my sponge dauber, I painted them in using Cameo Coral and Ruby Red.

To ground my picture, I threw on a piece of scrap patterned paper (from K&Co's Itsy Bitsy 6x6 paper pad), and then flipped over a smaller piece of the same patterned paper for the sentiment, which is a rub-on and I'm not sure where it came from anymore.

I think the girls sat outside one evening with their daddy while he had his 'yucky smoke', and when they came back in, they were holding some flowers that had come from the flowerbed underneath my living room window. Never mind they came from my own garden- they're still beautiful, and I loved the gesture!

Recipe for Goodness

For those of you that know of my recent breakfast smoothie/fruit and veggie smoothie addiction, I've got a new concoction for you: blend together a couple florets of broccoli, a small handful of (frozen) spinach, frozen blueberries (I freeze all most of my store-bought fruit and veggies), bananas, and watermelon, 1/3 -1/2 cup plain yogurt, and 1/4-1/3 cup milk. (The milk was added to thin it out a little bit- its quite thick! Instead of milk, you could also add more yogurt and some ice if you prefer). This will yield just enough for a small glass for you and two full (or four half cups, taking more than one child into account) toddler cups for your littles (if its just you, I would guess it would yield about 1 large glass full, or two-3 medium sized glasses).

YUM!

Try it out. The broccoli makes it a bit gritty- sort of like oranges do when you leave too much of the skin on, but otherwise it's delish!!

Here are some more pictures from Fathers Day. Maren gave me a huge hug and told me she loves me in the first pic, and in the second, she's playing with my necklace. You know, kids are so amazing- they're quick to point out to you when something is out of the ordinary. When we went to pick up the kids from their grandma's a few weeks back, I had taken off my locket because of the massage I'd been to earlier that day. I hadn't put it back on. Maren kept telling me over and over that it was 'gone'. Then, the other day, we were loading up to head out somewhere, and I put the girls in the wrong seats- on the wrong side of the truck, and Maren informed me, when I was putting Addison into her seat, that the seat that she was occupying was actually hers.  Oops! Maren always sits on the drivers' side, and Addison always sits on the passenger side. I rectified the problem after we'd finished shopping at our first destination that day. But, how funny!

Back on topic now. This layout was completed for the monthly sketch challenge over at scrapbook.com. This was the week 4 sketch, based on a sketch from Pagemaps July 2009. You can find the sketch here, along with some other gorgeous sketches, too. I'm going to have to remember that website!!

I stamped the entire title- first one some left over packaging, and then underneath the second photo. I've had the stamps for quite a while, and don't know where I got them. Probably at Michaels. The black polka dot paper in the background is Recollections, and the brown patterned paper is K&Co. I used white card stock for the journalling spot, and I blended in the brackets (which have also been in my stash for so long that I don't know where they came from) with basic black ink (SU). Originally, they were patterned, but I didn't feel the pattern on it worked with my design. It was too loud and busy.

Enjoy your Tuesday evening, everyone.

~a

Grass Slipper

How incredibly fun is this nail polish?! I splurged a bit on myself this morning during our grocery shopping trip. This is what I got! I can hardly wait to doll up the toe nails with this fun colour! Its called Grass Slipper. (Cute, right?!)

I just thought I'd share what our chore chart looks like (right now). My mind might be changing as far as the printable chore charts go- this system seems to be working really well for Addison- getting a sticker as a reward for helping out seems to be really good incentive for her. I am not sure yet if its working for Maren- she just kind of seems to be neutral to the whole idea. But, maybe its just that she needs a bit more time to warm up to the idea, or catch on to the whole idea.

Its fairly vague, and the chores that the kids help with needs to be elaborated on, but they each have their own 'chore' that is just theirs; Addisons is helping mama set the table at supper time and taking our dirty dishes to the sink (after supper), and Marens is helping mama load and unload the dishwasher. Both girls need to help mama clean up their toys, and come to bed at bedtime  and nap time without fighting (especially Addison. She's so defiant these days! Terrible two's I think- I hope!! Maren is such an obedient girl.) They can also get 'bonus' stickers, if they help with things like picking up garbage off the floor and putting it into the 'dirty box', as we call it, helping put groceries onto the grocery belt at the till, helping bring the groceries into the house, etc.

Of everything I've found on Pinterest and the internet, this seems to be working and I don't want to mess with it. Maybe as the kids get older and their chores change and they are able to help out more, the way it works will change too. But for now- don't fix what isn't broken!

Lastly, here's another layout I made. This began as another scrap lift, but quickly kind of took its own direction. At least, the inspiration came from sasload4's layout 'Domestic Princess', which you can find by following this link.

Because the kids like playing 'nighty night', I wanted to keep the colour scheme cool and night-like. Also, to play up a starry night sky, I used a polka dot stamp with whisper white ink to create far away stars. I also used some clear rhinestones to help add a little twinkle to the night sky. The white, purple and blue card stock are scraps, as are the blues for the clouds and the stars. (The blue stars were cut with my cricut, and the paper I used was from the Sweet Nectar 6x6 paper pad by K&Co, and the blue of the clouds are from a SU Christmas line). The title work was made also using the same blue paper from the Sweet Nectar paper pad. Lastly, the damask patterned paper in the very back background is Recollections.

Chore Chart and a Layout

I've been researching ways to visually stimulate the kids to become more involved in tasks around the house. I'm getting irritated that everything is always up to me- my husband doesn't even help out (though he does offer to cook on a regular basis). So, I'm enlisting the girls' help around the house. They are getting to the age, anyways, where its time to start learning about responsibility, and contributing to the household chores.

I came across a really neat site- its free- for printable chore charts. They're empty, so you can add which chores you desire. There's also behaviour charts, and a multitude of other tips and hints to help us point our children in the right direction. All you need to do is sign up in order to print what you want (which I didn't care much for, but its a small price to pay for what I wanted).

My plan is to use magnets with their chore mod-podged to them, and a sticker system for every chore they complete. At the end of the week, they'll be able to pick a prize from the goody box for being such a big helper. I haven't figured out yet how I'm going to implement the chore chart. I am not crazy about printing out a new chart every week- I'd rather laminate it and use it over and over again, but then I don't know how to implement the stickers!! The girls are really into stickers right now, which is why I want to use them.

On a different note, here's the latest layout I created. This was the week 4 bonus sketch over at scrapbook.com for the monthly sketch challenge.

The polka dot background patterned paper is Recollections, and the brown patterned paper is K&Co designer paper. I took the brackets that you see, and pop dotted them for some dimension, as well as blended them in with Basic Black ink (SU) using a sponge dauber. They were a black and white damask pattern.

Its very simple, but I'm in love with it!

Post Air Show Outtakes

**Today marks 3 years since the unfortunate tragedy took you from us and you arrived on heaven's doorstep. You were a ray of sunshine while you were here, and now you're basking in His sunshine! You are a treasure that's sincerely loved and incredibly missed. Here's to you, M**





As promised, here's a couple pictures from our day out at Whitecourt Airport, for the air show:

Before the show, Addison looking all pretty with a barrette in her hair (it somehow managed to come out before we left the house)

On the school bus on our way to the air show. THe girls loved riding it so much, they've been talking about it all day. Maren is pretty excited about school- she wants to ride the bus and she wants her backpack!!

Maren

Ever ride in one of these?

Maren just totally chilled out! She was off in orbit somewhere...

Both girls relaxing in their stroller

The tickle monster got them!

 F-18 Hornet

vintage plane, not sure what kind it was

Addison in the midst of throwing a temper tantrum. She was looking to see if anyone was paying attention lol

Cuddling up to daddy after the F-18's flight

  Maren asleep in daddy's lap. That white blanket you see- that was my baby blanket!

Cranky pants Maren just woke up from her nap. That sour face just cracks me up!

The parade before the show started. A lot of the American military was up to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Alaska Highway

Early in the morning, I used my lipstick to bribe the girls out of our room (daddy brought them in when they woke up because I had just gotten out of the shower) so I could get them dressed. I promised them I'd put lipstick on them if they came with me. It worked! And yes, I put a little bit on each of them lol. Thank goodness its a neutral colour!

Checking out the fire truck

Once, Many Moons Ago...

Thought I'd share a fun layout with you today!

While auntie and uncle were down here last celebrating Fathers' Day with us (you may remember that I've been referencing that a lot lately!!) we played at the park with the kids until their bedtime. Auntie and daddy got the bright idea to try and go down the twisty slide like the kids (auntie, mainly as a way to encourage the girls to go down it with her. They still think its a pretty scary thing!!!) Daddy- just because he was showing off. LOL

He did mention that we may need to call 911 if he got stuck. Thankfully--he didn't! It was a tight squeeze, though.

Hilarious, right?

The sketch I used for this layout was done by Melissa over at What's Scrappenin'? You can also find her over at scrapbook.com. I did this for the Monthly Sketch challenge (which is where the sketch came from), week 3.

I did a lot of stamping on this one, and everything that's stamped or inked was done using SU's chocolate chip. The stamps I used on the grey card stock are Autumn Leaves (Walmart), the journalling spot is also Autumn Leaves; the ties and the 'best dad ever' stamps are all from SU's Best Dad Ever set.

The blue gingham pp is SU (from many, many moons ago), and the alpha stickers in my title work are probably also from Walmart. (They're half used up- from my MIL...I am not sure where they came from!) I fussy cut the banner on which my title work is adhered.

There you have it! Simple, but loads of fun! (And a laugh or two)

ANother weekend is here. We are laying low this weekend. What are your plans?

Heart.Attack!

Oh! It was an eventful afternoon over at our house. To make a long story short, the kids ran away. While I was in the bathroom. I thought they had just gone downstairs, so I didn't rush, but when I saw the front door ajar, I nearly had a heart attack.

There are some wonderful people in our neighbourhood, and although I wasn't able to say 'thank you' in person, they'll find a plate of banana bread and a thank you card on their doorsteps tomorrow afternoon when they come home from work.

Thank God they hadn't gone far, were safe and unharmed, and I found them quickly. I should have known; they were at this one particular house that obviously stood out in their minds: there is white washed rock lining either side of the sidewalk. Of course the girls would remember that and want to play over there. That's where we (myself and a few other very kind gentlemen) found them.

At one time, there were child proof locks on the front door, but somehow, for some reason, it got taken off. Today, it was put back on!

In other news- happy news!!- it is finally reveal day over at Lets Capture These Sketches. You should head on over there, and see all the fabulous layouts the girls completed! There's two teams, so Team A posted theirs first. That doesn't mean, though, Team B wasn't able to play along! And, play along I did! (Just a subtle hint that I'm on Team B)

Here's my take on the sketch:

One last layout celebrating the twins' twin cousins' first birthday. Its so cute, but they seem just sooo confused by the item that's in front of them (their birthday cake). O especially cracks me up- she's such an expressive little baby! And, in that little face, the entire Murray side is evident. She's our grandma, re-incarnated. At least, her face was put on little O. 

**

    326* Slower, quieter days

327* the finished waterbed frame

328* Monster Jam

329* and having the chance to go!

330* the chance to be a part of another fabulous design team

331* home made baking

332* the fabulous groups I'm a part of at sb.com

333* shorter hair

334* covered-up-whites

335* that there's finally a spray park in town

336* an "outlet"
337* they are safe
338* they are unharmed
339* we live in an a.maz.ing neighbourhood
340* that at least Maren understands the magnitude of what happened

**

When I began crying when I told them to never do what they did again, she began crying, telling me she wanted to go to bed. (She says that when she's cranky or feels as though she's in trouble). I told her she didn't need to go to bed; I was just happy that we were all together again, and that nothing bad had happened to them. I've been telling them a lot recently that if mama lost them, she'd be very sad; and, sad I definitely was. More like sick. I can't even describe the pain my heart felt when I realized they were gone and I didn't know where they were. I honestly don't know if I breathed until we were all at home.

I did, however, tell Maren she did a really good job of thinking ahead--she put her rain boots on before leaving the house! Incredible!!

All that matters is that we are all together, and no one is hurt. Thank goodness!!!

Got Hobby?

Is there anything that you like to do (or your husband or kids or anyone that you know) that hasn't been able to enjoy (do, in other words) their hobby for a long time? When we moved back to Alberta, I packed up all my scrappy items and left them in hiding until I couldn't take it anymore. Then, I found a few items, broke them out of storage, and began to play a little (while we were still living in the trailer, yet, but mostly while we lived in the apartment- before the house came along. Then it all went into hiding again until everything was moved in, unpacked, and set up). Oh, it was like heaven on earth, when I was able to feel paper again, and play with it and manipulate it.

My dear, poor husband has gone without his hobby for far too long. Living in Saskatchewan wasn't really conducive to his hobby (drag racing) because the city we were nearest only held races three times over the summer- once in June, again in July and lastly in August. Apparently everyone down there travels (even to great distances) to get their fix. We just couldn't do that- especially not with newborn babies. For him, it really sucked. What sucked even more was leaving his little truck (which we affectionately call the 'little truck') in storage (at a buddy's).

Until tonight.

I think he feels like he's got a second chance at life; his 'baby' is back at home with him. Its unloaded off the car trailer, and sitting in the driveway. Once he's got the rest of the clutter in the garage moved out, he can put it inside, and tinker away at it to his hearts' content. He wants to put something new in it (but, I forget what it is because I'm too girl for stuff like that lol).

And...


We'll probably start heading out to the track regularly, now that the truck is back in his possession. We both sincerely missed it (I think its a fairly sexy sport, IMHO. Even though I know nothing about cars, I do like shiny things, and a lot of the vehicles that get raced are exactly that. Who knows, maybe one day I'll even start drag racing (though I'll have to work up the courage, first).

We can head to the track regularly here in Alberta, because racing begins in May and ends in September or October. Street Legals are Friday nights (that much I remember from our drag racing days when Kyle and I were still only dating), and bracket racing was the rest of the weekend, I think. Ha. I remember rainy days in the middle of July and August, that found me so cold, I was wearing mittens- and if I had one with me- probably a toque, too! (A hat, for all my American readers!!)
And, so, when you hear Kyle joking about me wearing mittens in the middle of summer (but flip flops in the middle of winter- go figure!!) thats what he's referring to!

EEk! I'm so excited for it! I can only imagine how he feels!

311* the little truck
312* more quality time spent at the race track!
313* that he has his hobby back- and just waiting for him to jump into it!
314* how happy he must feel

**

I've got another layout to share from the girls' cousins birthday party tonight.

I used Sketch 13 over at Got Sketch? for this layout. (You can find the original here).

Here's a few pictures of the details:

I've had this button in my button stash for quite some time. I don't quite know why I haven't used it before- I've got a few that look like this, in a variety of colours; but, I think it scared me. I was never sure how to use it, and so avoided it. I took the plunge on this layout, and I adore how it looks. Its a lot of fun, I think! I added some black rhinestone bling and a little bit of parcel string to glam it up a bit. The patterned paper is scraps, and its SU.

Once again, my new favourite way to create titles! I'm liking that doing my title work this way has helped me bring out the stamps, and use them a little bit more. I LOVE that this hobby is all about learning and re-learning and manipulating and putting spins on old things to make them new.

More stamping here, using an SU easter stamp- first in More Mustard on the yellow card stock, and again in Whisper White on the blue patterned paper. I also used my Martha Stewart scallop border punch on the blue strip of paper.

The journalling spot was cut in half (the other half will probably appear in another project down the road!) and adhered to the bottom left corner of my layout. I stamped with Close to Cocoa ink (SU) and fussy cut the shape out. My printing is written with a brown journalling pen (Recollections).

Enjoy! Hope you had a great start to a new week!

~a

Duh!

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a terrific day so far!

I just wanted to share a layout with you today, and some close ups:

I get a kick out of the kids 'helping' us out around the house. For the most part, its ridiculously cute- when they actually do what you've asked them to. Other times it can be aggravating, because its obvious they don't want to do it, but they must because it either came from some place they shouldn't have taken it, or it just plain needs to be picked up (as in their toys). And, when I say 'they must', it usually means that mama or daddy picks it up in the end. :)

They'll help us carry the groceries from the door into the kitchen (if they deem whichever item they're carrying not 'too heavy'. Last night, I asked Maren to carry a bag with pork chops in it to the kitchen, and she promptly dropped it back on the floor, saying it was too heavy. Ok, if you say so!! (LOL) (Though, she has no problem carrying a 4 litre jug of milk to the kitchen when daddy asks her to do it).

So, when I asked Maren if she wanted to help me with the laundry, she quickly, and wholeheartedly answered, 'yes!' My first reaction was, 'oh cool', and when I discovered how she had helped mommy put the laundry away, I just had to chuckle. She put the folded laundry back into the laundry basket. Still folded! Instinct told me that what she had done wasn't really putting the laundry away, and I was about to tell her that, when I decided to bite my tongue. To her, that was putting the laundry away. How many millions of times has she seen me put the entire load back into the laundry basket, intending to put all the items away at a later time? She was absolutely right, so I congratulated her on it! (I was particularly impressed that everything, for the most part, was still folded!)

I've been wanting to create my own background for a layout for a while. A really long while. I don't really think many of my stamps are very conducive to making pretty backdrops- mostly because they're too small and not elaborate enough, but I've picked up a few in the very recent past that will work beautifully for backgrounds such as this one:

I took the vintage post card stamp I bought from Michaels, and used it to stamp the image in varying directions. I also pressed fairly lightly, to give it an even more vintage, worn look. To finish it off, I inked the edges with a sponge dauber. (I used SU's Close to Cocoa ink).

W.O.W.!!! I think it looks horrendous  fantastic, and I can hardly wait to use this again on another project! Its my new favourite thing!!

I should mention here, that the inspiration for this entire layout came from a design I found in a special issue of scrapbooks etc.- sbe page planner. Unfortunately, I don't know the year of publication, or if there's more than one publication of this particular type of special issue. You can find the original of this layout on page 29 of that particular issue. (Ha, good luck trying to find it! I know its pretty vague). Sorry!

The bird stamps come from a certain SU stamp set that I don't know the name of. I actually never thought to add the name of the collection to the outside of the box until I bought a box full of goodies from a girl off Kijiji that no longer wanted/needed as much scrapping stuff. She had put them on the outside of her stamp boxes, and I had an 'aha!' moment when I saw it. So now, if and when I ever buy anymore SU stamps, I will remember to do that!!

The birds are pretty, though, aren't they? I love the green against the brown background. I just love neutrals period. I think they're fast becoming my most favourite colour to work with. Colour scares me a little, though when I do work with bright colours, I am sometimes pleasantly surprised (such as with the one I am currently working on. That may be tomorrow's post!!)

Creating the title was a lot of fun. Every once in a while, I get into this mindset that using my cricut after the kids have gone to bed is a bad idea. I worry that the noise it makes will wake them up- especially since I'm working in the room right next to theirs!! Even with the door closed, I worry about it. You know how it goes- when you try and be as quiet as possible, thats when you inevitably end up being noisier than usual. So, when I'm in silent mode, I try and come up with creative ways to get things done without my cricut. And, I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome! I'll be doing this in the future more often now, too!

I took SU's whisper white ink, and stamped with alpha stamps on black patterned paper. Then, I just fussy cut around them to create this fun and whimsical title! Easy peasy!

And lastly, the journalling block. I stamped it onto kraft card stock with SU's Close to Cocoa ink, then fussy cut around the lines, creating my journalling block. Then, I took a sponge dauber and lightly dragged it across the front to help age it just a tad more. Voila!

A lot of the elements on this page were created using scraps. How many of you make it a priority to use up your scraps? Do you use them for specific projects, like mini albums, cards or off the page type projects? Or, do you use them in any way that tickles your fancy? And, how small is too small to keep? Do you keep every tiny piece of paper, or do you keep nothing smaller than a certain size?

I'd love to hear how you use up your scraps!

Until next time, enjoy your Thursday!